Proposed Wave Momentum Source for Generating the 22-Year Solar Cycle

Abstract

For the 22-year solar cycle oscillation there is no external time dependent source. A nonlinear oscillation, the solar cycle must be generated internally, and Babcock-Leighton models apply an artificial nonlinear source term that can simulate the observations—which leaves open the question of the actual source mechanism for the solar cycle. Addressing this question, we propose to take guidance from the wave mechanism that generates the 2-year Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) in the Earth atmosphere. Upward propagating gravity waves, eastward and westward, deposit momentum to generate the observed zonal wind oscillation. On the Sun, helioseismology has provided a thorough understanding of the acoustic p-waves, which propagate down into the convective envelope guided by the increasing temperature and related propagation velocity. Near the tachocline with low turbulent viscosity, the waves propagating eastward and westward can produce an axisymmetric 22-year oscillation of the zonal flow velocities that can generate the magnetic solar dynamo. Following the Earth model, waves in opposite directions can generate in the Sun wind and magnetic field oscillations in opposite directions, the proposition of a potential solar cycle mechanism.